Wegmans organic eggs vs Costco organic eggs.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Wegmans egg yolk are beautiful vibrant yellow.
Costco egg yolk are light yellow.
Wegmans organic eggs are rated A , but the yolk looks better.
Costco organic eggs are rated AA, and Is better rating.
Both are from vegetarian fed hens.

My question is why the yolk color difference.

Small free-range/pastured poultry/egg producer here.

The yolk color reflects what the hen is eating. A brighter yellow or orange yolk means the hen is eating/kept on grass. Light yellow indicates they are probably confinement kept and fed only layer feed/organic layer feed. The whites will also be clearer in a pastured egg, and the texture/taste will be a lot stronger, more rich. Also - chickens are omnivores, they should not be eating a vegetarian only diet (huge pet peeve of mine), they need bugs, grass, and weeds in their diet, in addition to a calcium supplement for strong egg shells (mine have access to free choice crushed oyster shells). Tons of research out there on nutritional differences between the eggs too, pastured will have more Omega 3s and beta carotene content.

The rating doesn't matter - all commercially produced eggs you buy in a grocery store are from chickens kept in pretty awful conditions, no matter if they are "organic" or not. "Cage free" means the hen has at least 2 feet of space to move around, "pastured" can mean they have access to outside areas, not that they can necessarily get there through the thousands of other hens in the barn. "Organic" means they were fed and kept in a facility that meets USDA Organic regs - the grower has to certify and provide records that the facility hasn't had exposure to non-organics in the past 3 years, and the animals are fed organic feed. That's it. If the bird isn't healthy, it is usually culled (or left to suffer and die) instead of treated with medication that can solve the problem because if the animal is administered medicine it immediately loses it's "organic-ness." Organic does not mean a healthy animal or ethical or humane. At all. Shell color is irrelevant, different breeds of chickens lay different colors of eggs. White layers usually lay more eggs because they don't have to lay a pigment on the shell during the egg's trip through the bird.

The big producers have found all sorts of ways around the regulatory standards for labels. The only way to guarantee good eggs or meat, raised in a humane and ethical way, is to find a local farmer, visit their farm, and get on their list, and most of us are having trouble keeping up with demand these days.

Thank you Chicken Lady!

Do you have any links or tips on how to find a local or local-ish supplier?

[Anonymous]

+1 chicken lady! How do I find someone who will let me do on-farm pickup? That’s so great!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Wegmans egg yolk are beautiful vibrant yellow.
Costco egg yolk are light yellow.
Wegmans organic eggs are rated A , but the yolk looks better.
Costco organic eggs are rated AA, and Is better rating.
Both are from vegetarian fed hens.

My question is why the yolk color difference.

Small free-range/pastured poultry/egg producer here.

The yolk color reflects what the hen is eating. A brighter yellow or orange yolk means the hen is eating/kept on grass. Light yellow indicates they are probably confinement kept and fed only layer feed/organic layer feed. The whites will also be clearer in a pastured egg, and the texture/taste will be a lot stronger, more rich. Also - chickens are omnivores, they should not be eating a vegetarian only diet (huge pet peeve of mine), they need bugs, grass, and weeds in their diet, in addition to a calcium supplement for strong egg shells (mine have access to free choice crushed oyster shells). Tons of research out there on nutritional differences between the eggs too, pastured will have more Omega 3s and beta carotene content.

The rating doesn't matter - all commercially produced eggs you buy in a grocery store are from chickens kept in pretty awful conditions, no matter if they are "organic" or not. "Cage free" means the hen has at least 2 feet of space to move around, "pastured" can mean they have access to outside areas, not that they can necessarily get there through the thousands of other hens in the barn. "Organic" means they were fed and kept in a facility that meets USDA Organic regs - the grower has to certify and provide records that the facility hasn't had exposure to non-organics in the past 3 years, and the animals are fed organic feed. That's it. If the bird isn't healthy, it is usually culled (or left to suffer and die) instead of treated with medication that can solve the problem because if the animal is administered medicine it immediately loses it's "organic-ness." Organic does not mean a healthy animal or ethical or humane. At all. Shell color is irrelevant, different breeds of chickens lay different colors of eggs. White layers usually lay more eggs because they don't have to lay a pigment on the shell during the egg's trip through the bird.

The big producers have found all sorts of ways around the regulatory standards for labels. The only way to guarantee good eggs or meat, raised in a humane and ethical way, is to find a local farmer, visit their farm, and get on their list, and most of us are having trouble keeping up with demand these days.

This is so depressing.

[Anonymous]

Chicken lady again (not sure I like the nickname, but I'll go with it for now)

I am a licensed/permitted Maryland producer, and only sell in MD. If you're in Virginia, I would start at Virginia Department of Agriculture and try and find their poultry regs and requirements and eventually you will stumble onto their registration lists, if they have one.

If you are in Maryland, they have a nice PDF they publish every year of Maryland producers who have permits and licenses to sell eggs and meat birds. This is required in the state in order to sell at farmers markets or CSAs. I get a nice reminder from MDA every December to renew my paperwork, which is easy, and in MD if you have less than 3000 hens (that's me), it's free.

You can start here (I am on this list):

https://mda.maryland.gov/foodfeedquality/Documents/2020%20Approved%20Wholesaler%20and%20Packer%20Registration.pdf

The list is pretty self explanatory - there are groceries and wholesalers on the list because it's required under Maryland egg laws, so those are easy to avoid, if you're after the small farm eggs. My tip would be to find a person's name, farm name, or a location, and then google the address (or send them snail mail), to see if they have eggs available for pickup. You could probably email or call Deanna, the program coordinator, for phone or email addresses. Sometimes you can even drive by and you will see an "Eggs for sale" sign by the farm. The pandemic has changed the way some of us do business. I no longer allow drop-ins or drive-bys. I have a cooler on my front porch, a venmo and paypal account, and my locals send payment with a note saying what day/time they want to pickup and I put the eggs in the cooler for contact-less pickup. My city drop-offs are coordinated almost the same way (I only deliver to one neighborhood because it's easier for me to get in and out).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What about shell thickness? When I buy farmers market eggs the shells are really thin. Is that better?

Chicken lady again - No, it's not better, it's actually bad - that is a sign the bird isn't getting enough calcium in their diet (see my free-choice oyster shell comment above). I stopped selling at farmers markets - a lot of those vendors aren't really farmers, they are buying eggs from commercial facilities or warehouses, repackaging, and reselling, banking on the fact that most people think they are buying from a small producer - the Amish are one of the biggest offenders of this practice. Between booth rent, insurance, time, and now the pandemic, I stopped doing farmers markets and now do on-farm pickup for local clients, in addition to a weekly delivery of eggs into the city to a client list built from my market days. I also supply a few local bakeries and chefs with both chicken and duck eggs.

Thanks for the response. I’ve been paying extra for years and recently bought some cage free eggs from WF and noticed the difference in the shells. Upsetting.